Ghost Town, Oakland, California

Ghost Town (sometimes spelled Ghosttown) is the informal name of the Foster Hoover Historic District neighborhood in West Oakland, Oakland, California. cite web |last=Antonioli|first=Dan| authorlink =Dan Antonioli|title=A Short History of Ghost Town|url=http://www.611ecovillage.com/neighbrhd.html | quote=In the five years that I’ve lived here I’ve heard many an oral history of ghost town. I can tell you straight up that ghost town lives. Ghosties are real, they know they live in ghost town, and they have a strong sense of identity with this community. |accessdate=2007-09-25] The community is known for its violence and blight. cite news| last =Ostler | first =Scott | title =Baseball Brings Life: Boy's death spurs Oakland couple to save neighborhood kids one game at a time | publisher =San Francisco Chronicle | quote=Ghost Town is a violence-ridden West Oakland neighborhood, violent even by Oakland standards. Google a murder map of Oakland, and a cluster of dots pop up in the little area tucked just southwest of the MacArthur Maze. |date =June 22, 2007 | url =http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/06/22/MNG1TQJOI21.DTL |accessdate=2007-09-25] [cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1998/07/09/NEWS13293.dtl&hw=ghost+town+oakland&sn=018&sc=569|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|title=Oakland nabs drug suspects.| quote=Narcotics officers continued to pursue drug suspects in West Oakland's notorious Ghost Town area Thursday in an aggressive two-day sweep officials hope will clean up some of the city's drug-infested housing projects. As of Thursday morning, 25 suspects...| date=July 9, 1998
accessdate=2007-09-25 ] The name probably originated from the two casket companies operating side by side on Filbert Street between 30th and 32nd Streets. One of these companies, "American Burial Casket Co" (sign intact) is located at 3102 Filbert Street. The second company was located at 3104 Filbert Street (no signage).Fact|date=August 2008 Other explanations for the name may have originated in the times when eminent domain forced hundreds of families out of their homes and the town looked like a ghost town. Another anecdote refers to the town as having so many killings it was becoming a ghost town. It stretches from 31st Street to 35th Street in the area immediately southwest of the Macarthur Maze. This neighborhood once had active citizen crime patrols, including one group of seniors who walk the neighborhood weekly to get physical exercise and report blight. [cite news|url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/27/BAGLRQ2BVP1.DTL|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|title=Eyes, ears, feet on streets; Citizen groups gather to patrol neighborhoods, help law enforcement| quote=Jennie Black placed an orange safety vest on the back of her motorized wheelchair. A sign taped to the garment said "Feet on the Street." That's the name of a group of seniors she joined two years ago. Every Tuesday, they patrol Oakland's Ghost Town neighborhood. | date=May 27 2007
accessdate=2007-09-25] Jerry Brown, formerly governor of California and Mayor of Oakland stated: "Instead of an omnibus crime bill, you have to deal with shootings in Ghostown in West Oakland and sideshows in East Oakland." [cite news| last =DeFao | first =Janine | coauthors =Zamora, Jim Herron | title =Dellums may face big reality check |date =October 9, 2005| quote=Brown, who nearly a year ago endorsed Dellums' main rival, City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, added, "Instead of an omnibus crime bill, you have to deal with shootings in Ghosttown in West Oakland and sideshows in East Oakland." | publisher =San Francisco Chronicle | url =http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/10/09/BAGH3F4PLP1.DTL |accessdate=2007-09-25] Brown made attempts to turn around the blighted West Oakland neighborhood after "60 Minutes" featured it in a television profile. cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title='Ghost Town' a Work in Progress. |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/01/24/MNE153452.DTL |quote=So now, as Brown prepares to deliver his State of the City address tomorrow, how have things turned out in the mayor's little crusade to reshape the neighborhood known on the streets as "Ghost Town?" ... On the other hand, litter and crime continue to the haunt the neighborhood. |publisher=San Francisco Chronicle |date=January 24, 2001 |accessdate=2007-09-25 ]

The term "Ghost riding" has been attributed to this Oakland neighborhood. According to the "Contra Costa Times" and "The Washington Post", local rapper Mistah F.A.B. popularized the term with his song "Ghost Ride It" [ [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22Mistah+F.A.B.%22+%22ghost+ride+it%22+popularized&btnG=Search+Archives&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&um=1 "The hip list: best, worst of '06"] , "Contra Costa Times", December 26, 2006. "Ghost ride it: Popularized By Mistah FAB's song of The same name, The act of dancing on Top of a car in drive has become The newest fad to puzzle parents. ... " Accessed October 20, 2007.] and speculated that its origins are in Ghosttown. [Farhi, Paul. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/26/AR2006122600994_pf.html "Ghost-Riding: Brake-Dancing With Zip Under the Hood"] , "The Washington Post", December 27, 2006, p. C01. Accessed October 18, 2007. "Although such antics probably began with the invention of the automobile, ghost-riding seems to have sprung from Oakland's "hyphy" movement, a hip-hop style with its own slang, fashion and car culture. Dating back to at least the 1980s, young people on Oakland's tough east side have been staging impromptu car rallies, or "sideshows."... F.A.B. (real name: Stanley Cox) says in an interview that he first saw people ghost-riding about 10 years ago in Oakland's "Ghosttown" section (where he thinks the name might have originated)."]

City-County Neighborhood Initiative

Both Ghosttown and Sobrante Park, were targeted for youth intervention programs by the city of Oakland in their "Measure Y" campaigns.cite web | title =Programs for families and children | publisher =City of Oakland, Department of Human Services | quote=The City-County Neighborhood Initiative, a program run by the City of Oakland Division of Neighborhood Services operates in two neighborhoods, in Ghost Town Foster Hoover Historic District in West Oakland and Sobrante Park in East Oakland. The community builders work closely with teams of service agencies including the Service Delivery System (SDS) Teams, Neighborhood Services Coordinators, County agencies, schools, and local non-profit agencies. In the neighborhoods currently participating in the initiative, youth have become a key focus for neighborhood organizing. |url =http://www.oaklandhumanservices.org/initiatives/VPPSA/MeasureYGrantees.htm | publisher =Oakland, California |accessdate=2007-09-25] The specific program is termed by the city the "City-County Neighborhood Initiative". Its strategy, according to the Human Services Department, is "based on best practices, has community builders going door-to-door to support and encourage neighbors to address their issues (e.g., typically truant youth, blight, and drug dealing) and help them ultimately to organize (e.g., Friends of Durant Park, West Oakland Mini-Grant Committee, Resident Action Council, Block captains, neighborhood watches, Home Alert, Renters or Home Owners’ Associations) and take ownership of their communities. This strategy is based on the theory that violence must be addressed in the context of the community in which it occurs."

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